1956 Chevrolet Bel Air - Danchuk - Finally, Some Nice Trim

Danchuk Manufacturing is now stamping out '56 Bel Air side stainless at its facility in California.

When you are talking Tri-Fives, there are all kinds of iconic items on them, from the egg crate-style grille on the '55, the bullet taillights on the '56, to those sweet fins on the '57. One thing all these cars share from the basic 150s to the fully trimmed Bel Air is a healthy dose of stainless along the side. The stainless breaks up the flat sides of the car, and adds all the style because they didn't stamp anything in the bodies. There is good and bad that comes with that. The good is the looks and style; the bad is trying to find good stainless for your build. If you are lucky enough to have original trim, then it's probably gonna need polishing at the least, or hammer and file work at its worst. The issue with that is money. There has been aftermarket trim available, but it was all imported, and the quality has been inconsistent at best.

These issues are now a problem of the past thanks to Danchuk, a well-known name in the Tri-Five industry. Danchuk has just finished tooling up and is now ready to ship out the first set of part numbers in a long list to come of Tri-Five stainless trim. The first offerings are for the '56 Bel Air.

2/23

"We decided to make all the stainless for the cars for a few reasons. First, we have always had supply issues with keeping them in stock. Second, we weren't happy with the quality, and didn't feel we were supplying our customers with the quality they deserve. And last, we always felt the stainless, just like all of our chrome exterior parts, should be made in the United States," says Steve Brown, Danchuk Manufacturing's general manager.

Because we are all about showing you the latest and greatest here at Super Chevy, we took a trip over to Danchuk with camera in tow. We can attest to the made in the United States claim because we saw the press stamping trim out of 304 #8 mirror finish stainless during our visit. Not only did we want to see the stuff being made, we also wanted the experts there to walk us though installing it properly. Luckily for you, they had a freshly restored '56 sitting in the showroom that needed new trim, so we shot how it all went down.

Sources

MORE PHOTOS

VIEW FULL GALLERY

xclose

1956 Chevrolet Bel Air - Danchuk - Finally, Some Nice Trim

18 14 The rest of the studs install via these factory-style spring clips. 15 With all the clips in, Mike got the help of an assistant, and they lined up all the clips so it could be installed on the car. While the assistant held the trim against the car, Mike crawled underneath and loosely installed the hardware. 16 There was a little bit of adjusting needed to get everything all lined up, but since everything is just snug the trim can be adjusted. 17 Once it was all lined up, Mike locked it down by tightening the hardware. Mike notes that you should use pipe dope or silicone to seal up the holes that go into the trunk, rear quarters, or inside the doors to prevent water from leaking in. Since this is a display/R&D car, this trim may need to come off more that once, so no sealing was done. 18 There you have it folks, a new American made product for one of the most iconic American cars in history. 19 Just to give you an idea of how nice this stainless is, check out this close up. Look at how smooth the refle

1 Out back in manufacturing is a slew of large stamping machines, and the newest one is running all day just for the new '56 trim. Here a piece of 304 #8 mirror finish stainless steel is being stamped with 250 tons of pressure. There are a few more steps in the process to complete the piece, but this is the main stamping. Doing it in-house allows Danchuk to keep a close eye on quality, and if there is an issue, they can cure it in a matter of minutes instead of months like when dealing with an overseas vendor.

2 There should be no issues with supply anymore. Since Danchuk can tool up in a matter of hours even if they do run out, making more can be accomplished in just one day. One final point to make is these new pieces are only $5 more each than the lesser-quality import units.

3 Here is the car that will receive the new stainless. It's a fresh restoration, so we are going to be very careful. Danchuk has a few unrestored (yet pristine) vehicles out back that are used to check fitment, so the items should fit just like original.

4
Along with the stainless, Danchuk has everything else needed for the install, like the clips and nut plates. They found it easier and better to replace a bunch of the stud clips with spring clips to simplify installation and removal.

5 By combining studs and clips, Danchuk was able to minimize the amount of teardown necessary for the install. Studs are used in the holes that are easily accessible, and clips in the areas that are blind. Like on the front fender piece, clips are used on the two back holes because the inner fender hides them, but we still have studs on the ones we can get to just by reaching up in the wheelwell.

6 Once all the clips and plates were in, Mike Morgan carefully brought the stainless to the car and lined up the clips with the holes in the fender. Then all it took was a little bit of pressure on the trim to snap it in place.

7 The front spear also uses three clips and snaps in place after the upper and lower were installed.

8 Mike lightly tightens the hardware for now, but he will come back and fully tighten it after any adjustments are made.

9 The spring clips fit into the molding through a small notch at the end as shown. This is one of the door strips, so it has a nut clip on each end as well. This is one of the trim pieces that are very easy to service with the clip, as now there is no need to tear down the door panel to access the hardware like original.

10 Mike closed the door and then made sure the trim was properly lined up with the front pieces before tightening the screws on each end.

10 Mike closed the door and then made sure the trim was properly lined up with the front pieces before tightening the screws on each end.

11 Here is the only piece of trim that has not been reproduced by Danchuk. This is a restored original and it has three studs on the back that hold it to the car. This means Mike had to remove the rear cushion, so we could pull the panel out enough to slip his hand inside.

12 Now it's time for the big, long quarter piece, and this one uses stud clips. Since the molding get bigger as it goes towards the rear of the car, the clips need to get bigger as well. Danchuk provides these cut-to-fit plates, so you will need to hold the trim up to the car and temporarily mark the hole locations so you know where to trim the plates.

13 Mike passes along two tips when it comes to these plates. The first is to use a little pipe dope on the back of the clip so once you slip it in it will stay, but not so solid you can't adjust the trim later. Mike also recommends rounding off the opposing corners so you can twist the plate in place.

13 Mike passes along two tips when it comes to these plates. The first is to use a little pipe dope on the back of the clip so once you slip it in it will stay, but not so solid you can't adjust the trim later. Mike also recommends rounding off the opposing corners so you can twist the plate in place.

14 The rest of the studs install via these factory-style spring clips.

15 With all the clips in, Mike got the help of an assistant, and they lined up all the clips so it could be installed on the car. While the assistant held the trim against the car, Mike crawled underneath and loosely installed the hardware.

16 There was a little bit of adjusting needed to get everything all lined up, but since everything is just snug the trim can be adjusted.

17 Once it was all lined up, Mike locked it down by tightening the hardware. Mike notes that you should use pipe dope or silicone to seal up the holes that go into the trunk, rear quarters, or inside the doors to prevent water from leaking in. Since this is a display/R&D car, this trim may need to come off more that once, so no sealing was done.

18 There you have it folks, a new American made product for one of the most iconic American cars in history.

19 Just to give you an idea of how nice this stainless is, check out this close up. Look at how smooth the reflections are and also how close to the chrome it looks.

We headed over to Danchuck in Santa Ana, California to check out their new chrome Smoothie-style bumper and grille on a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. Only at www.superchevy.com, the official website for Super Chevy Magazine. » Read More